Tag: answers

“Now when He came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?” And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.” So they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things” (Matthew 21:23-27). Honest questions, truthfully sought will produce life-giving answers.

The experiences you have had are often necessary to produce the man or woman you have become or are becoming. If you’ve had a difficult past, don’t disregard your past just redefine it. You may have been through a traumatic experience as a child but what you learned from that situation has now enabled you to counsel hundreds of other young people. You may have gotten involved with a charity organization in high school that gave you the skills to run your own non-profit. There may have been a mentor that helped shape the man or woman you have become, which now has given you courage, confidence and character to serve scores of other youth.

Sometimes the quality of the questions we ask determines the answers we receive. The question we need to ask is, what does your past tell you about your future? Maybe nothing or maybe everything. After reading this and pondering the implications, hopefully you can connect the dots of your life – whether they seem momentous or miniscule. In the financial world they say that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

I want to focus on three things that your past can tell you about yourself and about your purpose in life. They are your prospects, power, and prominence.

Your prospects are your potential. It can also mean visions, forecasts or projections. Your potential can be revealed to you through your past experiences. You might be asked to do something that is outside of your comfort zone and you might see that you handle it with class, ease, and excellence, which teaches you that are capable of more than you thought. Learning about yourself is only half of the battle. Potential is repressed energy. It is defined as possible but as yet not actual. You and I have to convert the learned insights into tangible results. They say tomorrow never comes. When it’s all said and done there won’t be anything you can say or do.

Second, power refers to your ability, talent and capability in a particular area. What gifts, talents and passions do you have and have you seen develop throughout your life? What was different when you picked up an instrument that you couldn’t put it down? What was different about you that when you heard someone preach you didn’t just listen but you said I want to do that? What was different in you that when the teacher was teaching math or computer science it all made sense to you but everyone else was confused? What was different in you that you could be in an organization for a day and notice the errors in leadership that those who have been there for years never identified?

Lastly, prominence refers to your distinction, importance and influence in a particular area. What makes you unique? There may be a lot of people that do your particular job but what is unique about how you do it? Who are you? Connect the dots and figure out who God designed you to be! You and I have to love ourselves like He first loved us. Walt Disney said, “The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.”

Your past can help you to discover your future. Who you were may not be who you will become but it will help guide you into being your best self. Often the answers we seek lie in asking the correct questions. This allows us to connect the dots and build towards an expected and purposeful end. Once you begin to connect the dots of your life, you can come out of your “I was” and into your “I am”.